The Red Shadow
Mark couldn’t help but notice he was being followed. For almost a week now, he figured. The guy was lousy at being inconspicuous.
Roger, as he now referred to him, wasn’t doing much to blend into the crowd, with that red, puffy, ski jacket he wore everyday. It was too easy to spot him every time he showed up.
“Amateurs,” Mark thought to himself.
That afternoon in the restaurant he sat with his back to the door, something he hardly ever did. He should’ve known better.
Roger sat at a table behind him, hardly keeping his distance this time. This was the closest Roger had come, physically. Mark figured the time for a real encounter was coming soon. He would get the answer about who had sent this red-coated shadow, and why.
He could feel Roger’s stare, boring into his back. He sat there wondering what was behind this all.
It had to be Alissa. Her jealous streak had finally gotten the best of her and she hired a private detective, some dick, to follow him around and watch his every move. Of course! Her imagination has probably gotten the better of her and so she’s having him followed. Could that be it? It could. It truly could.
All she would’ve gotten this week were a few questionable phone calls and a series of bus trips….home to work, work to home. One brief stop at a pharmacy, another at a liquor store. What else?
Yes, he’d arrived home late several times, but that was not because of anything to concern Alissa.
But everything concerned Alissa these days.
“This is ridiculous,” Mark thought, or said out loud, he couldn’t be sure. “I’m not putting up with up this.”
This last part probably was actually out loud, given the strange quick looks he got from the ladies at the next table.
He took a breath, stood up and turned around.
Immediately Roger sensed he was being looked at, and glanced up from his turkey sandwich. Mayonnaise dripping from the corner of his stuffed cheeks. He paused briefly, but then smiled, grabbed his napkin and wiped his face.
“Hello,” Roger said.
And then Roger did something that Mark did not expect. He turned and looked out the window and watched the passersby, as if his Mark wasn’t confronting him.
Slowly, his gaze returned to Mark who stood stock still. Roger’s smile had disappeared, and he started to look uncomfortable.
A little too loudly, Mark told him, “I know you’ve been following me all week. I know why, too! And you can stop now. It can all stop. I’m tired of her shit. She’s gone too far! What exactly are you after?”
The room was quickly focused on Mark. No one said a word.
Quietly Roger managed a “Pardon?” accompanied by a quick glance at the others in the room.
“It’s over. We’re over — your assignment is over! I’ll go tell her myself! ” And with that Mark grabbed his coat and hustled out of the diner. All eyes watching him.
Roger turned to the ladies at the next table, and asked, “Was hat er gesagt?”
The ladies, none of whom spoke German, simply shrugged and went back to enjoying their soup. Roger took a glance out the window, watching Mark’s desperate attempt to hail a cab.
After a moment he too shrugged, smiled at the ladies, and pulled his Guide to New York City travel book out of his bag and began planning his last days of vacation.
